System and method for requesting additional telephone numbering information for reporting

ABSTRACT

A system for determining whether to request additional telephone number resources for a telecommunications carrier. The system includes a first database operated by a telecommunications carrier and configured to store data indicative of telephone number usage and ENUM usage of telephone numbers assigned to the telecommunications carrier. The system further includes a computing device in communication with a multiple databases via a network, the multiple databases may contain telephone number usage information associated with multiple telecommunications carriers. The computing device executes software to query the first and multiple databases to retrieve information associated with the telecommunications carrier (i) to determine current utilization of telephone numbers of a rate center and (ii) to determine months to exhaust of telephone numbers and automatically generate a report utilizing the current utilization and months to exhaust in response to determining the current utilization and months to exhaust.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application for patent is a Continuation-in-Part and claims thebenefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/606,655 filed Nov. 29,2006 now U.S. Pat. No. 8,045,692 titled “System and Method forDetermining Whether to Request Additional Telephone Numbering Resourcesby a Telecommunications Carrier” which claims priority from pending U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/507,142 filed Aug. 21, 2006 and titled“System and Method for Reporting Telecommunications Utilization andForecasting.” The entire teachings of which are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND

The ten-digit North American Numbering Plan (NANP) currently used by theUnited States and 19 other countries is rapidly being depleted.Management of this resource is impaired by a lack of uniform data. Underthe Communications Act of 1934, as amended by the Telecommunications Actof 1996, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was given“exclusive jurisdiction over those portions of the North AmericanNumbering Plan that pertain to the United States.” Pursuant to thatauthority, the FCC conducted a rulemaking that, among other things,addressed regular reporting on numbering resources used by United Statestelecommunications carriers.

The FCC appointed an agency, known as the North American Numbering PlanAdministrator (NANPA), to monitor numbering resources utilized by alltelecommunications carriers using the resources and to project the datesof area code and North American Numbering Plan exhaust. In their duties,NANPA created a numbering utilization report that telecommunicationscarriers are to submit semi-annually. The report is known as theNumbering Resource Utilization/Forecast (NRUF) Report.

The NRUF Report includes a number of different forms that provide NANPAwith information as to the usage of telecommunications allotted phonenumbers. As understood in the telecommunications industry, eachtelecommunications carrier is allotted a certain number of phone numbersin blocks of 10,000, which is generally subdivided into ten blocks of athousand. Ten-digit phone numbers include a (i) numbering plan area(NPA) (i.e., area code), which is three digits, (ii) central office code(NXX), which is also three digits, and (iii) thousands digit block(i.e., the first digit of the last four digits of a phone number).Telecommunications carriers provide phone numbers to customers fromthese blocks of a thousand numbers. As a thousands block is filled, itis considered to be exhausted. Some thousands digit blocks become filledwhile others become empty depending on how the telecommunicationscarrier customer base changes. The telecommunications carrier reportsthe existing usage and forecasts future usage of the phone numbers inthe NRUF Report.

One problem that exists with the NRUF Report is the time necessary tocollect and process the information to report. Telecommunicationscarriers generally have many divisions, many central offices, thousandsof thousands blocks, and millions of customers. Managing thisinformation and reporting it can take several man-weeks for producingeach NRUF Report.

Another problem that exists is that there is no standard method forforecasting exhaustion of a thousands block. Telecommunications carriersor service providers (SP) throughout the telecommunications industrycurrently submit requests for additional numbering resources to apooling administrator, currently NeuStar, by completing a Months toExhaust and Utilization Certification Worksheet. Calculations forreported values on the form are performed manually and then typed ontothe form. The Months to Exhaust (MTE) form may be prepared using aweb-based graphical user interface (GUI) provided by the PoolingAdministration System (PAS) (PAS User Guide for SPs, 5.1 Requests forPool Resources: Task Overview, Apr. 17, 2006, NeuStar, Inc.).

Regardless of whether or not a service provider requests additionaltelephone number resources on a paper worksheet, a software worksheet,or the website, the same information is required. For large ratecenters, the process of compiling a carrier's current numberingresources and performing hand calculations on available and assignednumbers is one that can take several days and even weeks to complete.Many times a company may feel the need to request an additional block ofnumbers, but not know whether the request will be granted withoutperforming all calculations required to complete the form. The endresult is often determined that the required conditions are not met andthe effort to complete the forms has gone to waste. Given the amount oftime needed to determine the current and projected resources needed,service providers are often reluctant to embark on the effort to makethe determination if there is a chance that the outcome of the requestwill be denied.

SUMMARY

To overcome the problems that exist for telecommunications carriershaving to spend much time and resources to determine current andprojected telephone number resources, the principles of the presentinvention provide for a system and method for performing thedetermination of current and projected telephone number resources in afew minutes. By being able to determine the resources in such anexpedited manner, a telecommunications carrier may minimize cost andresources for filling out the Months to Exhaust and UtilizationCertification Worksheet. In addition, the telecommunications carriersubstantially reduces the risk of exhausting its telephone numberresources due to being able to make the resource determination in suchan expeditious manner.

One embodiment for accomplishing the resource determination includes asystem for determining whether to request additional telephone numberresources for a telecommunications carrier. The system may include afirst database operated by a telecommunications carrier and configuredto store data indicative of telephone number usage and ENUM usage oftelephone numbers assigned to the telecommunications carrier. Acomputing device may be in communication with multiple databases via anetwork, where the multiple databases may contain telephone number usageinformation associated with multiple telecommunications carriers. Thecomputing device may execute software to query the first database andthe multiple databases to retrieve information associated with thetelecommunications carrier (i) to determine current utilization oftelephone numbers of a rate center and (ii) to determine months toexhaust of telephone numbers and automatically generate a reportutilizing the current utilization and months to exhaust in response todetermining the current utilization and months to exhaust.

Another embodiment provides a method for determining whether to requestadditional telephone number resources for a telecommunications carrier.Data indicative of telephone number usage assigned to atelecommunications carrier may be stored in a first database. The firstdatabase may be queried to obtain a first set of data includingtelephone number information associated with the telecommunicationscarrier. A determination may be made of current utilization of telephonenumbers of a rate center of the telecommunications carrier and months toexhaust of telephone numbers based on the first and second sets of data.A determination may be made whether to request additional telephonenumber resources based on the current utilization and months to exhaust.A report may be generated including the current utilization and monthsto exhaust in response to determining the current utilization and themonths to exhaust.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the method and apparatus of the presentinvention may be obtained by reference to the following DetailedDescription when taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawingswherein:

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an exemplary organizational structure forfulfilling governmental telecommunications telephone number usagereporting requirements;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system configuration for fulfillinggovernmental telecommunications telephone number usage reportingrequirements;

FIGS. 3A-3D are exemplary completed NRUF forms;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary system for gathering andprocessing information to complete NRUF forms;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are more detailed block diagram of the exemplary systemof FIG. 4 for gathering and processing information to complete NRUFforms;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for reportingtelecommunications usage and forecasting;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are graphical user interfaces of exemplary Months toExhaust and Utilization Forms with data representative of the twoexamples;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for determining andreporting months to exhaust to the Pooling Administrator for requestingadditional thousands blocks of telephone numbers;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an exemplary high-level process forrequesting telephone number resources from a pooling administrator, and

FIG. 10 is an exemplary Months to Exhaust and Utilization CertificationWorksheet that may be used by a telecommunications carrier forrequesting additional resources from the pooling administrator.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an exemplary organizational structure forfulfilling governmental telecommunications telephone number usagereporting requirements. As shown, a governmental organization, such asthe Federal Communications Commission (FCC), sets guidelines andmandates for the telecommunications industry for reportingtelecommunications usage. The telecommunications usage includestelephone number usage so that planning of additional phone numbersacross the United States may be adequately planned to avoid reaching atelephone number exhaust situation in any particular region.

To help manage the reporting by the telecommunications industry, areporting agency 104, currently known as the North American NumberingPlan Administration (NANPA), has been established. Telecommunicationcompanies 106 a-106 n (collectively 106) provide telecommunicationsservices to customers, including using and managing telephone numbers.As mandated by the government, the telecommunications companies 106 areto file semi-annual Number Resource Utilization/Forecast Reports (NRUF)108 a-108 n (collectively 108) that show telephone number utilizationand forecasting of the telephone numbers for which the respectivetelecommunications companies are responsible. The telephone numbers maybe associated with legacy telephone switches, packet or voice overInternet protocol (VoIP) telephone switches or devices, or additionalswitch types, devices, and/or associated databases.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system configuration 200 for fulfillinggovernmental telecommunications telephone number usage reportingrequirements. The system configuration includes a variety of servers anddatabases for use in storing and retrieving data associated withtelecommunications usage.

Telecommunications servers 202 a-202 n (collectively 202) may beutilized to process telecommunications usage and forecasting of therespective companies by one or more telecommunications companies. Server202 a may include a processor 204 in communication with a memory 206that is used for storing data and software and an input/output (I/O)unit 208 for communicating outside of the telecommunication server 202a. Software 210 may be executed by the processor 204 for performing datacollection and processing of telecommunication usage and forecasting forthe respective telecommunications company. A storage unit 212, which maybe contained within the telecommunications server or located remotelyfrom the telecommunications server 202 a, is used to storetelecommunications usage information in one or more databases 214 a-214n (collectively 214). The databases 214 may store telephone numbersassigned to the telecommunications company and usage of those telephonenumbers by customers of the telecommunications company. As shown,telecommunications server 202 n may include the same or similarcomponents as telecommunications server 202 a and store data in anassociated storage unit 216. In one embodiment, the telecommunicationsservers 202 are used by the same telecommunications company having oneor more divisions located across several states and regions within eachstate, but manage information associated with each of the respectivedivisions in which the telecommunications servers operate.

As understood in the telecommunications community, a LERG server 218 ismanaged by Telcordia Technologies, Inc. to manage the LERG database 220a-220 n (collectively 220). The LERG database 220 stores the NorthAmerican Numbering Plan (NAND) which governs the management of telephonenumber resources for the public switched telephone networks in NorthAmerica, including Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, andterritories, within the international country code ‘1’. The LERGdatabase 220 has data for every switch and central office in the NorthAmerican telephone network. The LERG server 218 includes a processor 222and software 224 for communicating with the LERG database 220. Memory226 and an I/O unit 228 are in communication with the processor 222 forstoring information and communicating with the LERG database 220 andwith the telecommunications servers 202. In one embodiment, thedatabases of FIG. 2, such as database 214 or 216, may include one ormore Electric NUmber Mapping System or E.164 Number Mapping (ENUM)standard databases.

NeuStar® is an administrator of the thousands-block number pooling inthe United States. As the pooling administrator, NeuStar hastelecommunications companies 106 (FIG. 1) submit information to themabout phone number resources that are allocated. Each telecommunicationscompany submits the information for each NPA and rate center of thecompany. A NeuStar server 230 is operated by NeuStar. The NeuStar server230 may include the same or similar components as the LERG server 218.The NeuStar server 230, however, operates to manage different databases232 a-232 n (collectively, 232) stored on a storage system 234, whichmay or may not be a part of the NeuStar server 230. As understood, theNeuStar databases 232 may store information for all telecommunicationscompanies, including forecasted demand, blocks assigned, blocksreturned, blocks donated, blocks added to the pool from new codes, andblocks available, for example. This information collected by the NeuStarserver 230 may aggregate the information to provide historicalinformation to the telecommunications industry and forecast informationfor the telecommunications industry so that telephone number resourcesmay be planned going forward and trends may be determined. Contents ofthe NeuStar databases 232 may be utilized in accordance with theprinciples and the present invention.

A NANPA server 236, which may include the same or similar components asthe LERG server 218 may be used to manage information being submitted toNANPA from the telecommunications companies 106. The storage unit 238may include databases 240 a-240 n (collectively 240) for storing theinformation. In one embodiment, the databases 240 store NRUF reports 108(FIG. 1), which may be in the form of Excel spreadsheets, PDF images, orraw content as specified by NANPA. The NRUF reports stored in thedatabases 240 may be utilized by NANPA, the reporting agency 104 (FIG.1), or other reporting agencies directed by the government to managephone number resources in the United States.

Each of the servers shown may be in communication with one another via anetwork 242. In one embodiment, the network 242 is the Internet.Alternatively, other public or private networks, including wired,wireless, satellite, or any other configuration may be utilized inaccordance with the principles and the present invention for providingcommunication services between each of the servers. As shown,communication over the network 242 is performed via data packets 244a-244 n as understood in the art. Other types of communication protocolsmay be utilized in accordance with the principles and presentinventions. While only various databases including an ENUM database,database 214, the LERG database 220, the NeuStar database 232, NANPAdatabase 240, and database 216 are shown or described, it should beunderstood that other and/or additional databases that provideinformation associated with the telecommunications industry andincluding information for use in completing NRUF reports may beutilized.

The system configuration 200 of FIG. 2 may utilize any number ofprocesses or systems for telephone number mapping. Telephone numbermapping is the process of unifying the telephone number system of thepublic switched telephone network with the Internet addressing andidentification name spaces. For example, telephone numbers may besystematically organized in the E.164 standard, while the Internet usesthe Domain Name System for linking domain names to IP addresses andother resource information. Telephone number mapping systems providefacilities to determine applicable Internet communications serversresponsible for servicing a given telephone number by simple lookups inthe Domain Name System (DNS). In one embodiment, the systemconfiguration 200 may utilize the ENUM standard which uses special DNSrecord types to translate a telephone number in to a Uniform ResourceIdentifier (URI) or IP address that may be used in Internetcommunications. For example, any of the databases, such as database 216may include an ENUM database for performing the described mapping andtranslation. For VoIP phones the ENUM mapping may include mapping atelephone number to one or more Session Initiation Protocols (SIP) URIs.The ENUM database may be separated from the other databases of thesystem configuration so that a separate query may be made to the ENUMdatabase for completeness of reporting. Additionally, the centralizednature of a VoIP platform and systems may need to address situationswhere the ENUM database includes telephone number information for one ormore rate centers.

The ENUM database may be utilized by any party, user, device, system,equipment, or application to interrogate the ENUM database with atelephone numbers to get identities and Internet related destinations,such as email addresses, mobile telephone numbers, or web pages.

FIGS. 3A-3D are exemplary completed NRUF forms. The forms are used forreporting telephone number usage by each of the telecommunicationscompanies 106. A complete NRUF report contains 12 forms for collectingutilization and forecast data from telecommunications carriers. However,only four of the twelve are provided for exemplary purposes because manyof the others are not utilized or seldom utilized due to being used forspecific purposes or seldom including information that needs to bereported. It should be understood that the principles of the presentinvention may be utilized for completing a full NRUF report. The NRUFforms and reports may also include information retrievable through theENUM database as that information becomes increasingly more valuable.

FIG. 3A is an exemplary form U1 Utilization Reporting Form (fornon-rural primary carriers). This form is used for non-rural primarycarriers to report at the thousands block level per rate center. Thisform, as well as the other NRUF forms, are configured in MicrosoftExcel® and include a header portion 302 for the telecommunicationcompany to enter company information in tables 304 and 306. Theinformation provided may include service provider name, company address,city, state, zip code, contact name, contact telephone number, serviceprovider OCN, service provider federal registration number (FRN), andservice provider service type.

Another table 308 that includes numbering resource utilization for eachthousands or 1K block is completed by each telecommunications company106 (FIG. 1). The information to be reported includes NPA-NXX, thousandsdigit (“X”), rate center abbreviations, assigned numbers, intermediatenumbers, reserved numbers, aging numbers, administrative numbers,donated to pool indicators, notes/assignee information, availablenumbers, utilization percentages, errors/messages, etc. The first tencolumns are filled in by the telecommunications carriers based onutilization by customers being supported in each NPA-NXX-X (i.e., firsttwo columns of table 308). Available numbers, utilizations, anderrors/messages are computed based on the resources being utilized bythe telecommunications company for each NPA-NXX-X.

Five categories are required to be reported in the U1 UtilizationReporting Form, including “assigned,” “intermediate,” “reserved,”“aging,” and “administrative.” These categories are defined in FCC Order00-104. A sixth category, “available,” is automatically calculated andno entry is necessary. Clicking on a soft-button 310 causes the“available” data to be checked before submission. It should beunderstood that the forms provided in FIGS. 3A-3D are provided by thereporting agency 104 (FIG. 1) to each telecommunications company 106 forreporting numbering resource utilization and forecasting. One embodimentin accordance to the principles of the present invention provides fordetermining the utilization of the different categories (e.g.,“assigned”).

Definitions for the different utilization categories as described in theNRUF report are provided herein below for convenience purposes:

Assigned: Assigned numbers are defined as “numbers working in the publicswitched telephone network under an agreement such as a contract ortariff at the request of specific end users or customers for their use,or numbers not yet working but having a customer service order pending.Numbers that are not yet working and have a service order pending formore than five days shall not be classified as assigned numbers.” Theassigned number is a number that is in use by an end-user customer.

Intermediate: Intermediate numbers are defined as “numbers that are madeavailable for use by another telecommunications carrier or non-carrierentity for the purpose of providing telecommunications service to an enduser or customer.” “An exception to this requirement is numbers reportedfor the purpose of transferring an established customer's service toanother service provider, in which case the numbers are classified as“assigned” by the reporting carrier and not counted by the receivingcarrier. For intermediate numbers provided by carriers to non-carrierentities, the providing carrier must report utilization for thesenumbers. Numbers assigned to end users by a non-carrier entity should bereported by the providing carrier as “assigned”. Any remaining numbersheld by a non-carrier entity that are not assigned to end users shall bereported by the providing carrier as “intermediate.” The sum of numbersreported by the carrier for the non-carrier entity in these twocategories should always equal the total of numbers held by thenon-carrier entity.

Reserved: Reserved numbers are defined as “numbers that are held byservice providers at the request of specific end users or customers fortheir future use.” Numbers held for specific end users or customers morethan 180 days shall not be classified as reserved numbers.

Aging: Aging numbers are defined as “disconnected numbers that are notavailable for assignment to another end user or customer for a specificperiod of time.” “Numbers previously assigned to residential customersmay be aged for no more than 90 days. Numbers previously assigned tobusiness customers may be aged for no more than 365 days.”

Administrative: Administrative numbers are defined as “numbers used bytelecommunications carriers to perform internal administrative oroperational functions necessary to maintain reasonable quality ofservice standards.”

Donated to Pool: An “X” is entered in this column if the NPA-NXX-X blockhas been donated to a pool.

FIGS. 3B-3D show exemplary forms F-1b, F-2b, and F-3, respectively.These forms are used to report forecasting of telephone numberresources. More specifically, Form F-1b is used for pooling carriers toreport forecasts for each NPA and rate center, Form F-2b is used fornon-pooling carriers in pooling areas for forecasting for each NPA, andForm F-3b is used for carriers in non-pooling areas for forecasting foreach NPA and rate center. Similar to FIG. 3A, multiple tables areprovided in each of FIGS. 3B-3D for header information and reportinginformation. It should be understood that one skilled in the art oftelecommunications resource reporting is well versed in utilizing theseresource utilization and forecast report forms.

FIG. 3B is an exemplary Form F-1b that is part of the NRUF Reportsubmitted on a semi-annual basis by telecommunications service providers106 (FIG. 1). Pooling carriers, where a pooling carrier is atelecommunications carrier that has pooled telephone number resources incertain rate center locations, fill out Form F-1b when submitting theNRUF Report. Form F-1b includes a header portion with tables 314 and 316that is filled out with information associated with thetelecommunications service provider, such as parent company name,service provider name, address, service provider operator company number(OCN), service provider federal registration number, service type, etc.In addition, telecommunications service providers 106 fill out aforecast table 318 for forecasting pooling areas in 1K blocks per ratecenter, per year and 1K blocks (growth codes) over the next five years.It will be seen that this forecasting is different from forms F-2b (FIG.3C) and forms F-3b (FIG. 3D) as form F-1b requests forecasting for 1Kblocks, whereas forms F-2b and F-3b request forecasting for 10K blocks(i.e., NXX level blocks). Also, forecasting information associated witheach rate center in an NPA is submitted in Form F-1b.

FIG. 3C is an exemplary Form F-2b that is part of the NRUF Report.Non-pooling carriers, where a non-pooling carrier is atelecommunications carrier that has not pooled telephone numberresources in certain rate center locations, fills out Form F-2b whensubmitting the NRUF Report. The Form F-2b includes a header portionhaving tables 320 and 322 to be filled with information associated withthe telecommunications service provider, as described with regard toForm F-1b of FIG. 3B. The telecommunications service providers 106 fillout a forecast table 324 for forecasting NXX(s) per rate center, peryear (growth codes) over the next five years. As shown, the forecasttable 324 requests NPA and rate centers, but is performed on a 10K blocklevel as opposed to the 1K block level of Form F-1b (FIG. 3B).

FIG. 3D is an example Form F-3b that is part of the NRUF Report.Telecommunications carriers in non-pooling areas, which are areas inwhich pooling has not been initiated yet, fill out Form F-3b whensubmitting the NRUF Report. The Form F-3b includes a header portionincluding tables 326 and 328 to be filled out with informationassociated with the telecommunications service provider, as describedwith regard to FIG. 3B. The telecommunications service providers 106fill out a forecast table 330 for forecasting NXX(s) per NPA, per year(growth codes) over the next five years. As shown, the forecast table328 requests NPAs and is performed on a 10K block level as opposed tothe 1K block level of form F-1b (FIG. 3B).

As understood in the art, the telecommunications carriers may userespective proprietary inventory databases (e.g., databases 214) togenerate at least a portion of the information used for generatingutilization and forecasting information to complete the NRUF forms. Thedatabases 214 may include an ENUM server component whether the ENUMdatabase is embedded or adjunct to other existing service inventorydatabases.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary system 400 for gathering andprocessing information to complete the NRUF forms. The system mayinclude data sources 402, modules 404, and reports 406. The data sources402 may include a telecommunications service provider inventory database214, LERG database 220, and NeuStar database 232. As shown in FIG. 2,the LERG database 220 and NeuStar database 232 are accessible via anetwork 242, such as the Internet. It should be understood that otherdatabases currently available or developed in the future that includeinformation available to be used to determine information for completingthe NRUF forms may be utilized in accordance with the principles of thepresent invention.

The modules 404 include an NRUF database system module 408, databasecomparison and verification module 410, blocks available for donationmodule 412, months to exhaust module 414, and directory numbersavailable module 416. While the NRUF database system module 408 is ofprincipal focus for completing the four NRUF forms of FIGS. 3 a-3D, theother modules are briefly described herein below.

NRUF Database System Module

The NRUF database system module 408 is used to collect and processinformation from the databases 214, 220, and 232 to fill-out the NRUFforms 418, which includes NRUF forms U1, F-1b, F-2b, and F-3b, asprovided in FIGS. 3A-3D. The NRUF database system module 408 is theprimary aspect of the remainder of this description.

Database Comparison and Verification Module

The database comparison and verification module 410 is a module used toextract information from both the telecommunications service providerdatabase 214 and LERG database 220 and to compare the pooling statuses(i.e., every thousands block that the telecommunications serviceprovider currently owns or had owned in the past) as well as theportability indicators stored in the respective databases. A report maybe generated to shows all thousands blocks where there is a discrepancybetween the sources.

Blocks Available for Donation Module

The blocks available for donation module 412 queries several datasources 402 to first find all thousands blocks currently owned by atelecommunications service provider that are at or less than 10%utilized or contaminated. In other words, if 100 or less of the 1000numbers in the thousands block are currently unavailable for assignment,the thousands block is not considered to be over-contaminated. By being10% or less utilized, the block is capable of being pooled back to thegovernment. However, the telecommunications service provider would notnecessarily want to donate all blocks in a rate center that areunder-contaminated. The second factor that should be accounted for isthe projected growth of a rate center. The telecommunications serviceprovider should donate only enough thousands blocks to ensure that arate center will not exhaust all phone numbers in the rate center withinthe next six months. This number of thousands blocks to donate is what areport from this module 412 illustrates. This module 412 lists thecurrent under-contaminated thousands blocks and their respective percentutilizations. Users may filter results based on NPA, state, and ratecenter combinations.

Months to Exhaust Module

The months to exhaust module 414 automates the process for populating aMonths-to-Exhaust Worksheet, which must be completed when atelecommunications carrier requests additional thousands blocks forgrowth in a rate center where the carrier already has resourcesassigned. It extracts information from both the telecommunicationsservice provider database 214 and LERG database 220. The module thenuses queries to group, subtotal, and filter data to meet therequirements for the worksheet. Calculations are automated to determinewhether the six months to exhaust requirement and the minimum 75%utilization requirement are met.

Continuing with FIG. 4, the NRUF database system module 408 may beconfigured to query one or more databases to receive information forprocessing and completing NRUF forms. As shown, the NRUF forms, U1,F-1b, F-2b, and F-3b, may be completed by the NRUF database systemmodule 408. However, it should be understood that the NRUF databasesystem module 408 may be adapted to complete other NRUF forms in thesame or similar manner.

In one embodiment, the reports 406 may include an ENUM report that isdetermined.

FIG. 5 is a more detailed block diagram 500 of the exemplary system ofFIG. 4 for gathering and processing information to complete an NRUFreport. As shown, databases, including the ENUM database, the serviceprovider inventory database 214, LERG database 220, and NeuStar TimelineReport 232, may be accessed to obtain information to be used forcompleting the NRUF report. In one embodiment, two or more databases maybe accessed, including an internal database to the service provider anda telecommunications industry accessible database (e.g., the ENUMdatabase and LERG database 220), if enough information can be gatheredfrom these databases to complete the NRUF report. However, based on thecurrent configurations of the three databases, each is accessed tocomplete the NRUF reports in accordance with the principles of thepresent invention.

As previously described, (i) pooling carriers (i.e., those carriers inpooling areas who have donated or received numbers from the number pool)report forecasts by rate center on the F-1b form, (ii) non-poolingcarriers in pooling areas (i.e., carriers in pooling areas who have notdonated or received numbers from the number pool) report forecasts byrate center on the F-2b form, and (iii) carriers operating innon-pooling areas (i.e., NPA areas that have not yet started pooling)report forecasts in NPA areas on the F-3b form. The determination as towhich forms to report projections for particular NPA areas may bedetermined using the NeuStar database 232 and looking up the NeuStarTimeline Report. At this time, the NeuStar Timeline Report can be foundat:

-   -   “https://www.nationalpooling.com/pas/control/timelinereport?siteTyp=FR”

In one embodiment, the database or table that is stored at theabove-listed website may be searched at the website. Alternatively, thecontents of the database may be downloaded into a local software program(e.g., Microsoft Excel®) or database (e.g., Microsoft Access®) andqueried therein.

In step 502, a query may be performed on the data from the NeuStardatabase 232 to determine whether an NPA is a pooling area. The NeuStarTimeline Report (not shown) includes, in part, state, NPA, and poolstart date information. If the pool start date listed is prior to thecurrent date, then the NPA is a pooling area. Otherwise, the NPA is anon-pooling area and Form F-3b is completed for those NPA areas. Unlessan NPA is relatively new, most NPA areas are pooling areas, which is whythe Form F-3b in FIG. 3D is empty. If the query in step 502 determinesthat the NPA is a pooling area, then in step 504, a query determineswhether the telecommunications service provider is a pooling carrier inthat NPA. In other words, a determination is made to determine if theservice provider has ever pooled in the NPA. If so, then a forecast forthe NPA is reported in Form F-1b. Otherwise, a forecast for the NPA isreported in Form F-2b.

As shown, four queries may be performed with the service providerinventory database, including a history query 506, installed type ITYPE& status query 508, aging numbers query 510, and working numbers query512. The history query 506 and working numbers query 512 are used tocomplete Forms F-1b, F-2b, and F-3b and the other queries 508 and 510are used to complete the U1 Form.

The history query 506 extracts or identifies the number of working phonenumbers at rate center levels for each of the last 13 months from theservice provider inventory database 214. TABLE I is representative of aportion of such an extraction. It should be understood that TABLE I isan exemplary portion of an overall database that includes workingtelephone numbers for all rate centers and NPAs of thetelecommunications service provider. At step 514, NPA growth isdetermined for inclusion in form F-3b, if it is determined from step 502that the NPA is not a pooling area. For example, referring to TABLE Ibelow, if the current month is June 2006, month 13 (M13) would be theprevious month (e.g., May 2006) since the current month is not complete.Month 1 (M1) would be May 2005. By using a rolling 13 months of history,month 1 can be subtracted from month 13 to derive the past year ofgrowth (positive) or loss (negative). In the example of TABLE I,assuming that Decatur is the only rate center reported by the serviceprovider, the growth of the NPA 940 is 22,886-21,316=1,570 phone numbergrowth. If there are multiple rate centers served in this NPA, theworking numbers would first be subtotaled at the NPA level. At step 516,an NXX forecast per NPA may be determined. The results are included inForm F-3b if the NPA is not a pooling area.

TABLE I Working Numbers at Rate Centers Table ST Rate Center NPA YRMOWorking TX DECATUR 940 M13 22886 TX DECATUR 940 M12 22887 TX DECATUR 940M11 22875 TX DECATUR 940 M10 22841 TX DECATUR 940 M9 21741 TX DECATUR940 M8 21781 TX DECATUR 940 M7 21801 TX DECATUR 940 M6 21871 TX DECATUR940 M5 21879 TX DECATUR 940 M4 22647 TX DECATUR 940 M3 22641 TX DECATUR940 M2 22098 TX DECATUR 940 M1 21316

At step 518, rate center growth may be determined based on theinformation from TABLE I in a similar manner as the NPA growth describedwith respect to step 514. In this case, rate center growth is calculatedin the same manner and is the same as NPA growth (i.e., 1,570 phonenumbers). If a service provider reported on multiple rate centersservicing a single NPA, which is often the case, then the growth for therate center and NPA would likely be different. At step 520, an NXXforecast per rate center is generated. In one embodiment, the growth maybe projected by using the same growth as computed for the past 13-months(i.e., 1,570 phone lines). Alternatively, a different technique may beused for projecting the growth, such as using a moving average or otherstatistical function. The results of the NXX forecast per rate centermay be applied to Form F-2b if it is determined at step 504 that thecarrier is not a pooling carrier. If it is determined that the carrieris a pooling carrier, then the results of step 522, which determines thethousands block forecast per rate center, is applied to Form F-1b.

Continuing with the queries, the ITYPE & status query 508 reportssubtotals for combinations of installed type and status at the NPA-NXX-X(thousands block) level. When blocks of telephone numbers are assignedto a carrier, the services for which the numbers can be used arelimited. For example, a block of numbers may be assigned for pagingservices only. Assigning an installed type to numbers in a carrier'sinventory database allows the carrier to follow regulations in assigningthe numbers. The status field serves to report the current status of thephone number. For example, the status defines directory numbers that areassigned to working customers and those that are currently unassigned.

TABLE II is an exemplary partial listing of a telecommunications serviceprovider inventory of telephone numbers. The list includes NPA-NXX-X,installation type, status, and quantity of numbers with a particularstatus. For example, the status “ASN” stands for “assigned,” and thereare four (4) phone numbers in the NPA-NXX-X of 219-261-2 that areassigned.

TABLE II Service Provider Inventory Database NPA NXX X ITYPE STATUS QTY219 261 0 REG WKG 1 219 261 0 SPL WKG 1 219 261 2 COIN ASN 4 219 261 2COIN VAC 1 219 261 2 COIN VND 23 219 261 2 COIN WKG 72 219 261 2 REG DNA1 219 261 2 REG LNPO 2 219 261 2 REG VAC 1 219 261 2 REG VND 153 219 2612 REG WKG 741 219 261 2 REG WLNP 2

TABLE III is a cross-reference table for the different ITYPE categories.For example, the ITYPE “BBDN” represents “broadband” service and “REG”represents “regular” service of customer telephone lines. TABLE IV is across-reference table for the status categories. For example, “ASN”represents phone numbers that are “assigned” and “WKG” represents phonenumbers that have working service. Both of the ITYPE and statuscross-reference tables are used in determining what information toreport on the utility U1 form, as further described below with regard tothe flow chart extending from the ITYPE & status query 508. It should beunderstood that TABLES III and IV are exemplary and that other and/oradditional tables may be used in accordance with the principles of thepresent invention. It should also be understood that the content of thetables may be different or additional content may be utilized to performthe same or similar functionality as described herein. Furthermore, itshould be understood that no tables may be used and cross-referencing ofcategories may be performed by using software that includescross-reference values by hard-coding or otherwise.

TABLE III INSTALL TYPE CROSS-REFERENCE TABLE ITYPE DESCRIPTION EFFECT800 800 SERVICE NO EFFECT BBDN BROADBAND NO EFFECT CNTX CENTREX NUMBERSNO EFFECT COIN COIN NO EFFECT DID DIRECT IN DIAL SVC NO EFFECT ISDN INTSWITCH DIG NETWK NO EFFECT LNPI LNP IN EXCLUDE MBAS MILITARY BASE NOEFFECT MBEX MILITARY PIN/NO DIAL EXCLUDE MCA METRO CALLING AREA NOEFFECT MEXT MESSAGE LINE EXT. EXCLUDE MSGL MESSAGE LINE NUMBER NO EFFECTPAGE PAGING NO EFFECT POOL NUMBER POOLING NO EFFECT RECL RECLAIMED NOEFFECT REG REGULAR NO EFFECT SPL SPECIAL BILLING (WO) NO EFFECT STGVSTATE GOVERNMENT NMBR INTERMEDIATE TEST TEST ADMINISTRATIVE TLCO COMPANYOFFICIAL NM ADMINISTRATIVE TNBR TOTAL NUMBER SERVICE NO EFFECT NSTRNEUSTAR'S BLOCK NO EFFECT PATS CUSTOMER OWNED PHONE NO EFFECT PCSPERSONAL COMM SVC NO EFFECT ROT ROTARY HUNT NO EFFECT SWAD TESTADMINISTRATIVE WATS OUT WATS NO EFFECT

TABLE IV STATUS CROSS-REFERENCE TABLE STATUS DESCRIPTION EFFECT ASNASSIGNED ASSIGNED CEAS PORTED # DATABASE ASSIGNED DNA DO NOT ASSIGNADMINISTRATIVE JPY JEOPARDY ASSIGNED LNPO LNP OUT ASSIGNED RECL RECLAIMSD EXCLUDE RES RESERVED RESERVED SND SENDING TO VND EXCLUDE VAC VACANTEXCLUDE VACR VACANT RELATED ORDER ASSIGNED VND VACANT NUMBER DATABASEEXCLUDE WKG WORKING SERVICE ASSIGNED WLNP WORKING LNP SERVICE ASSIGNEDCVR CONNECT VACATION SVC ASSIGNED LNPP LNP PENDING PORT ASSIGNED

Continuing with FIG. 5, the ITYPE & status query 508 accesses theservice provider inventory database 214 to extract data, such as thedata of TABLE II. The process continues at step 524, where adetermination is made as to whether either the ITYPE or status indicatesto exclude the numbers. For example, referring to TABLE II, forNPA-NXX-X of 219-261-2 having an ITYPE of “COIN” and status of “VND”(see row 5 of TABLE II), when the ITYPE cross-reference table (TABLEIII) is cross-referenced, the effect for “COIN” is shown to have “NOEFFECT” (see row 4 of TABLE III) and when the status cross-referencetable (TABLE IV) is cross-referenced, the effect for “VND” is “EXCLUDE”(see row 11 of TABLE IV). If at step 524 it is determined that eitherthe ITYP or status is to be excluded, then at step 526, the telephonenumbers are excluded from reporting. Therefore, in the instant example,the 23 phone numbers in 219-261-2 that have a status of “VND” areexcluded from reporting.

If at step 524 it is determined that neither the ITYPE or statusindicate to exclude the numbers, then at step 528, a determination ismade as to whether the ITYPE indicates one of the five NRUF categories(i.e., “assigned,” “intermediate,” “reserved,” “aging,”“administrative”). For example, if one of the NPA-NXX-X ITYPE dataelements were “TEST,” then the effect would be found in TABLE III asbeing “ADMINISTRATIVE,” which is one of the NRUF categories. If theITYPE indicates one of the NRUF categories at step 528, then the processcontinues at step 530, where the number of telephone numbers using theNRUF category indicated by the ITYPE is reported. The process continuesat step 532 to report the number of telephone numbers that meets one ofthe categories “Assigned,” “Intermediate,” “Reserved,” or“Administrative” on the U1 form.

If it is determined at step 528 that the ITYPE is not one of the NRUFcategories (e.g., “NO EFFECT”), then the process continues at step 534,where a determination is made as to whether the status is one of theNRUF categories. For example, referring to TABLE II, for NPA-NXX-X of219-261-2 having ITYPE and status of “COIN” and “ASN,” the effect foundin TABLE IV is “ASSIGNED,” which is one of the NRUF categories. If it isdetermined at step 534 that the status is an NRUF category, then theprocess continues at step 536 where the number of telephone numbersusing the NRUF category indicated by the status is reported. For thecase of 219-261-2 having ITYPE and status of “COIN” and “ASN,” there are4 telephone numbers that are reported. As another example, referring toTABLE II, for NPA-NXX-X of 219-261-2 having ITYPE and status of “REG”and “WKG,” the quantity of 741 numbers are reported as being “ASSIGNED”on the U1 Form (FIG. 3A). The process continues at step 532 to reportthe numbers on the U1 form. If, at step 534, the status does notindicate one of the NRUF categories, then the process continues at step538, where the telephone numbers are excluded from reporting.

Continuing with the queries, the aging numbers query 510 is used toreport subtotals for aging numbers at an NPA-NXX-X (thousands block)level. TABLE V shows a subset of the service provider inventory database214 with aging data. The aging data is reported via step 540 on the U1Form (FIG. 3A).

TABLE V Inventory Data with Telephone Number Aging Information NPA NXX XAGING 219 261 2 46 219 261 3 22 219 261 4 3 219 275 2 4 219 275 3 9 219275 4 7 219 275 5 8 219 275 6 3

Continuing with the queries, the working numbers query 512 reportsworking numbers at the NPA-NXX-X (thousands block) level that aredesignated as being working. TABLE VI shows a subset of the serviceprovider inventory database 214 with working telephone number data. Theworking numbers are used in combination with the data from the LERGdatabase 220.

TABLE VI Inventory Data with Working Telephone Number Information NPANXX X WORKING 218 534 0 33 218 534 1 74 218 534 2 69 218 534 3 569 218534 4 97 218 534 5 79 218 534 7 18 218 534 9 72

At step 542 and 544, assigned thousands blocks (i.e., blocks currentlyallocated to the reporting carrier) and unassigned thousands blocks(i.e., blocks not currently allocated to the reporting carrier),respectively, are collected from the LERG database 220. Carrier workingnumbers (i.e., the reporting carrier's working customers whose numbersreside in a thousand block owned by the reporting carrier) aredetermined at step 546 and non-carrier working numbers (i.e., thereporting carrier's working customers whose numbers do not reside in athousand block owned by the reporting carrier) are determined at step548. Thousand blocks in each rate center (i.e., the number of thousandsblocks owned by the reporting carrier for each rate center) aredetermined at step 550 and thousand blocks in each NPA (i.e., the numberof thousands blocks owned by the reporting carrier for each NPA) aredetermined at step 552. Rate center percent utilization is determined atstep 554 and NPA percent utilization is determined at step 556. Thesevalues are used to complete the NRUF Forms F-1b, F-2b, and F-3b.

${{RTCTR}\mspace{14mu}\%\mspace{14mu}{Util}} = \frac{{CarrierWkg} + {NonCarrierWkg}}{{NonCarrierWkg} + {(1000)({ThouBlocksInRateCenter})}}$${{NPA}\mspace{14mu}\%\mspace{14mu}{Util}} = \frac{{CarrierWkg} + {NonCarrierWkg}}{{NonCarrierWkg} + {(1000)({ThouBlocksInNPA})}}$

The principles of the present invention determine which thousands blocksthe company is responsible to report utilizing information stored in theLERG database 220. For example, with number portability and numberpooling, Company A may have customers in thousands blocks that are ownedby Company B. Company A should not report utilization for thesethousands blocks because Company B will report those numbers. Todetermine which blocks should be reported, the LERG database 220 may beused as the determining data source. All blocks that are listed in theLERG may have a corresponding operating company number (OCN). Allthousands blocks listed in the LERG database 220 with an OCN thatbelongs to a particular carrier should be reported in the carrier's NRUFfilings. However, this criteria alone does not include all necessarythousands blocks. If all of the thousands blocks in a NPA-NXX belong toone carrier and the blocks have not been pooled, then only the NPA-NXXshows up in the LERG database 220 rather than one record for eachthousands block. To compensate for this, the process 500 splits theseNPA-NXX's into all ten thousands blocks (0 through 9) for the blocks toreport. Those blocks that were once owned by a company and donated backto the government without yet being reassigned should also be reportedon the company's NRUF filings. These blocks are determined by meetingthe following three conditions:

-   -   1) The NPA-NXX is listed in the LERG database 220 with one of        the company's OCN's.    -   2) The NPA-NXX is split out in the LERG database 220 to include        one or more thousands blocks, rather than just one record for        the whole NPA-NXX.    -   3) One or more of the thousands blocks for the NPA-NXX's is not        listed in the LERG database 220.

If each of these conditions is met, then those blocks not listed in theLERG database 220 are the additional blocks that should be included inthe list of blocks to report. These blocks are marked with an “X”,indicating that the block has been pooled. As described, the ENUMdatabase may also be utilized alone or in conjunction with the LERGdatabase 220.

In the following example shown in TABLE VII, for NPA-NXX 419-520, atelecommunications company having OCN 0661 is the code holder of theNPA-NXX as indicated by the first line with a block ID of “A” for all.Since the thousand blocks are broken out into individual records, butonly eight of the ten blocks are listed in the LERG database 220, thismeans that blocks 7 and 9 are unassigned blocks. The blocks 7 and 9 havebeen pooled by one company, but not yet reassigned to another company,so these blocks are still to be reported by the pooling company. Blocks5 and 8 have been pooled and reassigned to a company other than thepooling company having OCN 553A, so these blocks are not be reported bythe pooling company.

TABLE VII Pooling Example State Rate Center NPA NXX Block_ID OCN OHMANSFIELD 419 520 A 0661 OH MANSFIELD 419 520 0 0661 OH MANSFIELD 419520 1 0661 OH MANSFIELD 419 520 2 0661 OH MANSFIELD 419 520 3 0661 OHMANSFIELD 419 520 4 0661 OH MANSFIELD 419 520 5 553A OH MANSFIELD 419520 6 0661 OH MANSFIELD 419 520 8 553A

Therefore, for reporting utilization in this example, the followingthousands blocks and pooling indicators shown in TABLE VIII arereported:

TABLE VIII Pooling Reporting Example NPA_NXX_X RATE_CTR POOL 419-520-0MANSFIELD 419-520-1 MANSFIELD 419-520-2 MANSFIELD 419-520-3 MANSFIELD419-520-4 MANSFIELD 419-520-6 MANSFIELD 419-520-7 MANSFIELD X 419-520-9MANSFIELD X

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process 600 for reportingtelecommunications usage and forecasting. At step 602, data indicativeof telephone number usage assigned to a telecommunications carrier isstored in a first database. In one embodiment, the first database is aproprietary database managed by the telecommunications carrier. At step604, the first database may be queried to obtain a first set of dataincluding telephone number information associated with thetelecommunications carrier. At step 606, multiple databases operating ona network may be queried to obtain a second set of data includingtelephone number information associated with the telecommunicationscarrier. In one embodiment, the multiple databases may include an ENUMdatabase that is queried to retrieve information. In another embodiment,the multiple databases may include a database managed for thetelecommunications industry, such as the LERG database. At step 608,telephone number usage and forecast data may be generated from the firstand second sets of data. The telephone number usage and forecast datamay be used for completing NRUF forms. Other databases may also bequeried to retrieve information that may assist in determining whichform of the NRUF forms to apply the telephone number usage and forecastdata.

Using the system and methods described above, the time for completingNRUF reports may be reduced from several weeks to less than an hour. Inaddition, business information that was otherwise too difficult toaccumulate during reporting periods are now able to easily be collectedand reported for business purposes. Also, forecasting is improved fromconventional forecasting, where the principles of the present inventionmay forecast by using, in one embodiment, the growth over the past 12months to project the next 12 months rather than simply using a flatnumber as may previously have considered to be acceptable.

Determining Months to Exhaust

Telecommunications carriers that wish to obtain additional telephonenumbers for a rate center must submit a request to the PoolingAdministrator (PA). When the Pooling Administrator, currently NeuStar,receives a carrier's request for additional telephone numbers, adetermination is made as to whether or not the request will be granted.Two criteria must be met for additional numbering resources to begranted. First, the total rate center utilization must currently be ator above 75%. Second, based on the forecasted number growth and currentnumbering resources, the months to exhaust must be 6 months or less.

As an example for determining months to exhaust, current rate centerutilization for Decatur, Tex. is 75.87%, which meets the first criteria(i.e., total rate center utilization at or above 75%). Based on theforecasted growth and the total numbering resources, the months toexhaust is 43.62. Because the months to exhaust is above six months, therate center's telephone numbers will not be exhausted in the next sixmonths, and, therefore, a request for additional telephone numbers,generally in the form of thousands blocks, would not be granted.

Continuing with the example, suppose that a large customer of the ratecenter is building their headquarters in the area and requests 5000consecutive phone numbers. This additional request is to be factored into the calculations for determining months to exhaust. If the special5000 number request was for one of the next six months, this numberwould be added to the average growth for that month. The additionalutilization greatly increases the “average monthly forecast” for thenext six months, which is used in the months to exhaust calculationbelow. In turn, the months to exhaust number is reduced to 5.78 monthsfor this example. Now both required criteria are met (i.e., current ratecenter utilization at or above 75% and months to exhaust below sixmonths), so the request should be granted.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are graphical user interfaces of exemplary Months toExhaust and Utilization Forms with data representative of the twoexamples described above. The forms 700 a and 700 b include a variety ofselectable information, such as state 702 and rate center 704, anddisplayed information, including operator company number (OCN) 706.Based on the state 702 and rate center 704, a list 708 of rate centerNPA-NXX's and list 710 of thousands block utilization are provided. Anumbering resources entry table 712 displays calculated utilizationinformation, including available numbers, assigned numbers, totalnumbering resources, and percent (%) utilization. A months to exhaustvalue is automatically calculated based on current utilization andforecasted growth. In addition a customer requested numbers field 714 isprovided to allow a telecommunications carrier to enter a number ofspecially requested telephone numbers out of the ordinary type ofgrowth. A growth history table 716 and forecast table 718 display thegrowth for the previous 12 months and the generated forecast for thefollowing 12 months.

The difference between forms 700 a and 700 b is the customer requestednumbers shown in field 714, where in form 700 a, there are no customerrequested numbers and in form 700 b, there are 5000 customer requestednumbers. As described in the example above, 5000 customer requestednumbers represent a special request from a customer to have 5000telephone numbers reserved for the establishment of a headquarters orother business operation. The other numbers of utilization are the samewith the exception of months to exhaust (i.e., 43.62 months versus 5.78months). This difference enables the telecommunications carrier torequest additional telephone numbers. In one embodiment, the software isconfigured to notify a user that the current utilization of telephonenumbers for a rate center is above 75 percent and the months to exhaustis below 6 months so that the user may act to request additionaltelephone numbers from the Pooling Administrator. The notification maybe in the form of displaying the information in a different color (e.g.,red) or other graphical indicator (e.g., flashing number). Still yet, apop-up window or other alert may be used to notify the user of thecurrent utilization and months to exhaust situation.

The following equations provided in the Months to Exhaust andUtilization Certification Worksheet may be used to compute months toexhaust and current utilization of a rate center. An exemplary Months toExhaust and Utilization Certification Worksheet is shown in FIG. 10. Asshown in FIG. 10, the MTE is 5.78 and Utilization is 75.87%, whichenables the telecommunications carrier to request additional telephonenumbers for the rate center, which, in this example, is Decatur.Months to Exhaust=Numbers Available for Assignment to Customers/AverageMonthly Forecast¹1 Average monthly forecast for the next 6 monthsUtilization=(Assigned Numbers−Excluded Numbers²)/(Total NumberingResources−Excluded Numbers)2 Quantity of numbers activated in the past 90 days and excluded fromthe Utilization calculation

The following tables are examples of query results and computationsbased on query results that are used by the telecommunications carrierto determine months to exhaust and utilization. TABLE IX providescomputations based on results from a query of one or more databases 214managed by the service provider, such as the ENUM database and the LERGdatabase 220. A query of the database 214 may provide utilizationinformation of a rate center and an average growth over a year may begenerated. For example, Stevenson rate center has an average year growthof 279 subscribers for the carrier.

TABLE IX Rate Center Average Annual Growth State Rate CenterAvgYearGrowth WA Roosevelt 7 WA Stevenson 279 WA Sunnyside 0 WAToppenish 78 WA Trout Lake 7 WA Wapato 0 WA WH Salmon 433

A query of the LERG database 220 and/or service provider database 214 isable to provide a thousands block count as provided in TABLE X for eachof the rate centers. As shown, the thousands blocks for a portion of therate centers located in Florida are provided. For example, the ratecenter in Apopka, Fla. has 54 thousands blocks or 54,000 telephonenumbers assigned to the carrier.

TABLE X Rate Center Thousands Block Count State Rate Center ThousandsBlock Count FL Alford 10 FL Apopka 54 FL Arcadia 30 FL Astor 3 FL AvonPark 29

A history query is used to report the amount of working phone numbers atthe rate center level for each of the last 13 months. For example, ifthe current month is June 2006, month 13 (M13) is the previous month(i.e., May 2006). Month 1 (M1) is May 2005. By using a rolling 13 monthsof history, month 1 can be subtracted from month 13 to derive the pastyear of growth (positive) or loss (negative). The difference between M13and M1 results in the previous year's growth, which can be projectedforward to use for forecasted growth. TABLE XI is a table of anexemplary query of history from the past 13 months showing workingtelephone numbers within a rate center. The query results may be used todetermine growth or loss of customers being serviced by the rate centerfor reporting to the Pooling Administrator.

TABLE XI History Query State Rate Center NPA YRMO Working TX DECATUR 940M13 22886 TX DECATUR 940 M12 22887 TX DECATUR 940 M11 22875 TX DECATUR940 M10 22841 TX DECATUR 940 M9 21741 TX DECATUR 940 M8 21781 TX DECATUR940 M7 21801 TX DECATUR 940 M6 21871 TX DECATUR 940 M5 21879 TX DECATUR940 M4 22647 TX DECATUR 940 M3 22641 TX DECATUR 940 M2 22098 TX DECATUR940 M1 21316

An ITYPE status query is used to report subtotals for combinations ofInstalled Type and Status at the NPA-NXX-X (thousands block) level.Results from such a status query is provided in TABLE XII. Installedtypes and statuses can be converted into NRUF categories in the samemanner as NRUF reporting, with one of the categories being “assigned.”Once all numbers are converted to the NRUF categories, the assignednumbers can be totaled at the rate center level. The thousands-blocksowned by a service provider can be counted at the rate center level froma service provider's inventory database. This number of blocksmultiplied by 1000 numbers per thousands-block provides the totalnumbering resources for each of the company's rate centers. Subtractingthe assigned numbers from the total numbering resources in each ratecenter provides the available numbers.

TABLE XII ITYPE and Status Query NPA NXX THOU ITYPE STATUS QTY 219 261 0REG WKG 1 219 261 0 SPL WKG 1 219 261 2 COIN ASN 4 219 261 2 COIN VAC 1219 261 2 COIN VND 23 219 261 2 COIN WKG 72 219 261 2 REG DNA 1 219 2612 REG LNPO 2 219 261 2 REG VAC 1 219 261 2 REG VND 153 219 261 2 REG WKG741 219 261 2 REG WLNP 2

A number of queries may be performed from the LERG database 220. TheLERG queries may provide information associated with pooling oftelephone numbers from the telecommunications carrier that can be usedfor reporting to the Pooling Administrator. TABLE XIII is the result ofan exemplary query from the LERG database 220 that includes a poolingindicator. The Telcordia Routing Administration website providesread-only access to view and download LERG data. It currently has a rowlimit for exports, so downloads may be split into one or more per stateto avoid download problems.

TABLE XIII Pooling Indicator LERG Query Results NPA NXX BLOCK_IDEFF_DATE OCN RC_STATE RC_NAME10 POOL_IND 218 534 A 23-Sep-03 1456 MNDeerwood N 219 261 A 08-Jul-04 0832 IN Remington Y 219 261 0 19-Jul-040832 IN Remington Y 219 261 2 19-Jul-04 0832 IN Remington Y 219 261 319-Jul-04 0832 IN Remington Y 219 261 4 19-Jul-04 0832 IN Remington YRequesting Resources from the Pool

A request of resources from the telephone number pool when atelecommunications carrier already has resources from the pool in itsinventory currently has the following guidelines (PAS User Guide forSPs, 5.2 Required Information Apr. 17, 2006, NeuStar, Inc.):

-   -   1) A listing of all codes and blocks in the telecommunications        carrier's inventory for the pool related to a request    -   2) The quantity of available telephone numbers (TNs) in the        telecommunications carrier's inventory for the pool    -   3) The total quantity of telephone numbers the        telecommunications carrier has assigned for this pool    -   4) The quantity of telephone numbers the telecommunications        carrier has assigned for this pool in each of the previous 6        months    -   5) The quantity of telephone numbers the telecommunications        carrier expects to assign for this pool in each of the next 12        months        The following definitions are provided by the Pooling        Administrator for telecommunications carriers who participate in        the pool (PAS User Guide for SPs, 5.4 Procedure Apr. 17, 2006,        NeuStar, Inc.)    -   Available Numbers: the quantity of telephone numbers available        in the telecommunications carrier's inventory for this pool.    -   Assigned Numbers: the quantity of telephone numbers in this pool        the telecommunications carrier has assigned to customers.    -   Total Numbering Resources: the total quantity of telephone        numbers assigned to the telecommunications carrier for this        pool.    -   Quantity of Numbers Activated in the Past 90 Days and Excluded        from Utilization Calculation: the quantity of telephone numbers        that will be excluded from the utilization calculation because        they are in codes/blocks activated in the past 90 days.    -   Growth History: the quantity of telephone numbers assigned to        customers for each of the 6 previous months, with Month 6 being        the current month.    -   Forecast: the quantity of telephone numbers your company expects        to assign to customers in each of the next 12 months, with Month        1 being the current month.    -   NOTE: If the calculated month to exhaust value is greater than 6        and/or the calculated utilization percentage requirements are        not met, the telecommunications carrier will not receive all of        the blocks requested.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process 800 for determining andreporting months to exhaust to the Pooling Administrator for requestingadditional thousands blocks of telephone numbers. The process 800 may beperformed by a server operated by the telecommunications carrier andstarts at step 802, where the results from a history query 506 from theservice provider inventory database 214 is used to determine rate centergrowth average. At step 804, growth history is generated and reported inthe Months to Exhaust and Utilization Spreadsheet (e.g., form 700 a inFIG. 7A). At step 806, a forecast history is generated and reported inthe Months to Exhaust and Utilization Spreadsheet.

An ITYPE & Status Query 508 is performed from the service providerinventory database 214. Based on the query 508, a determination is madeas to whether either the ITYPE or status indicates to exclude thetelephone numbers. If so, then the telephone numbers are excluded fromreporting at step 810. Otherwise, at step 812, a determination is madeas to whether status indicates an NRUF “assigned” category. If not, thenthe telephone numbers are excluded from reporting at step 814.Otherwise, if the thousands block of telephone numbers is assigned, thenthe telephone numbers are reported using the NRUF “assigned” category atstep 816. At step 820, the telephone numbers (i.e., the thousands blockof telephone numbers) are reported as being assigned on the Months toExhaust and Utilization Spreadsheet.

At step 822, in response to a query of the LERG database 220, counts ofthousands blocks assigned to each rate center are performed. A percent(%) utilization, which is reported on the Months to Exhaust andUtilization Spreadsheet, may be made at step 824 based on the assignedthousands blocks from step 820 and the thousands block count at step822. At step 826, total numbering resources is determined for each ratecenter by multiplying the thousands block count determined at step 822by 1000. The results of the determination are used along with theassigned thousands blocks from step 820 at step 828 to determineavailable numbers, where the available numbers are the total number oftelephone numbers that are not assigned (i.e., total telephone numberresources minus assigned telephone numbers). The available numbers arereported on the Months to Exhaust and Utilization Spreadsheet. At step830, the months to exhaust is determined and reported.

At step 832, a determination is made as to the thousands blocks oftelephone numbers owned by the telecommunications carrier. At step 834,NPA, NXX, OCN, company name cross-reference is performed from the LERGdatabase 220. The NPA-NXX and OCN data are reported at steps 836 and838, which are reported on the Months to Exhaust and UtilizationSpreadsheet. It should be understood that the process 800 is exemplaryand that other processes may be performed to produce the information forreporting to the Pooling Administrator via the Months to Exhaust andUtilization Spreadsheet.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an exemplary high-level process 900 forrequesting telephone number resources from a pooling administrator. Theprocess starts at step 902. At step 904, data indicative of telephonenumber usage assigned to a telecommunications carrier is stored in afirst database. The first database is queried to obtain a first set ofdata including telephone number information associated with thetelecommunications carrier at step 906. At step 908, multiple databasesoperating on a network, such as the Internet, are queried to obtain asecond or additional set of data including telephone number informationassociated with the telecommunications carrier. For example, themultiple databases may include the ENUM database and the LERG database.At step 910, current utilization of telephone numbers of a rate centerof the telecommunications carrier and months to exhaust of telephonenumbers based on the first and second sets of data are determined. Adetermination as to whether to request additional telephone numberresources based on the current utilization and months to exhaust isperformed at step 912. The process 900 ends at step 914.

The process 900 may further include determining growth and currenttelephone number resources of the rate center. The growth may be basedon historical growth at the rate center and per thousands blocks. Thecurrent utilization determination may include determining whetherutilization is above 75 percent. Furthermore, the months to exhaustdetermination may be performed to determine whether the months toexhaust is at or below six months. If the current utilization isdetermined to be above 75 percent and months to exhaust is at or belowsix months, then a notification may be made to a user. The notificationmay be performed by a message in the same or different window (pop-upwindow), highlighting a number, or other technique as understood in theart. In determining current utilization, the determination may be madeby determining the number of telephone numbers that are categorized.Still yet, a special customer request for a specified number oftelephone numbers may be received and utilized in determining months toexhaust of telephone numbers. A report including months to exhaust andcurrent utilization may be generated, where the report includes a Monthsto Exhaust and Utilization Spreadsheet.

The previous detailed description of a small number of embodiments forimplementing the invention is not intended to be limiting in scope. Oneof skill in this art will immediately envisage the methods andvariations used to implement this invention in other areas than thosedescribed in detail. The following claims set forth a number of theembodiments of the invention disclosed with greater particularity.

What is claimed:
 1. A system for determining whether to requestadditional telephone number resources for a telecommunications carrier,the system comprising: a first database operated by a telecommunicationscarrier and configured to store data indicative of telephone numberusage and Electric NUmber Mapping (ENUM) usage of telephone numbersassigned to the telecommunications carrier; a computing device incommunication with multiple databases via a network, the multipledatabases being operated external to the system and storing telephonenumber usage information associated with multiple telecommunicationscarriers, the computing device executing software to query the firstdatabase and the multiple databases to retrieve information associatedwith the telecommunications carrier (i) to determine current utilizationof telephone numbers of a rate center and (ii) to determine months toexhaust of telephone numbers, and automatically generate a reportutilizing the current utilization and months to exhaust in response todetermining the current utilization and months to exhaust.
 2. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the software is further configured todetermine growth and current telephone number resources of the ratecenter.
 3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the multipledatabases include a the local exchange routing guide (LERG) database. 4.The system according to claim 1, wherein the software is furtherconfigured to determine whether the current utilization of telephonenumbers of the rate center is above 75 percent.
 5. The system accordingto claim 4, wherein the software is further configured to determinewhether the months to exhaust is at or below six months.
 6. The systemaccording to claim 5, wherein the software is further configured tonotify a user that the current utilization of telephone numbers is above75 percent and the months to exhaust is at or below six months.
 7. Thesystem according to claim 1, wherein the software, in determiningcurrent utilization of telephone numbers, determines a number oftelephone numbers that are categorized.
 8. The system according to claim1, wherein the software is further configured to receive a specialcustomer request for a specified number of telephone numbers, thespecial customer request being utilized by the software in determiningmonths to exhaust of telephone numbers.
 9. The system according to claim8, wherein the software is further configured to generate the report fortelephone numbers utilization associated with legacy telephone switchesand Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) switches.
 10. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the report is a Months to Exhaust andUtilization Spreadsheet.
 11. A method for determining whether to requestadditional telephone number resources for a telecommunications carrier,the method comprising: storing data indicative of telephone number usageassigned to a telecommunications carrier in a first database managed bythe telecommunications carrier; querying the first database to obtain afirst set of data including telephone number information associated withthe telecommunications carrier; querying multiple databases managed byan industry organization and operating on a network to obtain a secondset of data including telephone number information associated with thetelecommunications carrier; determining current utilization of telephonenumbers of a rate center of the telecommunications carrier and months toexhaust of telephone numbers based on the first and second sets of data;determining whether to request additional telephone number resourcesbased on the current utilization and months to exhaust; and generating areport including the current utilization and months to exhaust inresponse to determining the current utilization and the months toexhaust.
 12. The method according to claim 11, further comprisingdetermining growth and current telephone number resources of the ratecenter.
 13. The method according to claim 11, wherein querying themultiple databases includes querying a local exchange routing guide(LERG) database.
 14. The method according to claim 11, furthercomprising determining whether current utilization of telephone numbersof the rate center is above 75 percent.
 15. The method according toclaim 14, further comprising determining whether months to exhaust is ator below six months.
 16. The method according to claim 15, furthercomprising notifying a user that the current utilization of telephonenumbers is above 75 percent and the months to exhaust is at or below sixmonths.
 17. The method according to claim 11, wherein determiningcurrent utilization includes determining a number of telephone numbersthat are categorized.
 18. The method according to claim 11, furthercomprising receiving a special customer request for a specified numberof telephone numbers, the special customer request being utilized by thesoftware in determining months to exhaust of telephone numbers.
 19. Themethod according to claim 18, wherein the first database includes storesdata for the telephone numbers indicating ENUM usage, and wherein thereport is generated for telephone numbers utilization associated withlegacy telephone switches and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)switches.
 20. The method according to claim 11, wherein generating thereport includes generating a Months to Exhaust and UtilizationSpreadsheet.